Jo's Secret
by AppleLass
Summary: Zane won't let Jo get away without answering some questions, but how will he react when he finally gets what he wants? My own continuation of where "The Ex Files" left off  written before the finale . Rated T for a few curse words.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, or any of the characters. I am not making money from this story.

His grandmother's ring. What the hell was Jo Lupo doing with his grandmother's ring? He held it in his hands, and there was no mistaking it. It had been his grandmother's wedding ring when she got hitched in the 40s, and she used to let him play with it when the parents abandoned him at her house during summers. She always promised Zane that he could give it to his own bride, should he ever want to settle down. It the time it seemed like such a foreign and far-off question. So how did Jo seem to have it when he had not even thought of the ring in a decade?

And what had she said about romanticizing their relationship? That was almost as confusing. Sure, he'd been laying it on thick since they had met, teasing and hitting on her, but how could he resist? Ever since he had seen her through those cell bars, her ass and her tough as nails attitude had literally begged him to be appreciated. Well, in the case of the latter, tested. Yeah getting zapped as much as he did was painful, but totally worth it when he managed to ruffle her feathers. Well, tonight her feathers were definitely ruffled, but not in a good way.

Carter had just spent an hour interrogating him about some project from a while back, but truthfully he could barely concentrate. Zane was not sure who was setting him up, but they had been snooping around his files, and he had been able to trace them. This "Accounting Department" was far too interested in not only GD's new historian, but him, Chief Fargo, and even Dr. Blake. It had been the only thing on his mind when he entered Jo's office, and now it was one of only many mysteries.

He waited until he thought Cater felt he'd questioned him enough. No offense to the guy, he is probably great at what he does, but compared to Jo, he was a Care Bear in the interrogation department. "Hey Sheriff, what's up with Jo? I mean, is she okay? She's been acting weird. Like... death in the family? Illness? Still grieving for her house?"

Carter had already opened up his phone to call someone, probably his new lady friend Dr. Blake, so his answer was distracted. "Yeah, I mean, no. There was this energy feedback memory loop thing with hallucinations. I'm sure she's fine." He turned his back and started walking out of the office, leaving Zane - of course - still behind bars.

"Aren't you going to let me out first?" he called after the retreating figure.

No answer. Just like his question. Well... maybe he had gotten an answer. Carter was no genius, or even a PhD., but he was good with analogies. Hmm. Jo was experiencing hallucinations. That almost made sense. He felt as if he had walked in on the middle of a conversation already started. Maybe that was it? In one of her hallucinations, she had a conversation with another one of him... who had made her sad? He almost felt a little guilty about it, as if his hallucinated self's actions were his fault. But then... how did Jo get his grandmother's ring?

Jo was startled by the sight of Carter standing in his - their - S.A.R.A.H.'s - kitchen, dressed only in boxers. "Jo!" he yelped, jumping so he was standing right behind the kitchen island and not quite as noticeably undressed. Except for the fact that he was hiding behind the kitchen island. "I, uh, was just getting ice. For, uh, water."

"Whatever, Carter, as long as I don't have to hear it." She was tired. She had just spent about half an hour kicking herself for being so stupid as to confess everything to the wrong Zane, and the next hour reading through the files he had given her, trying to make sense of them. But in the end, it was clear that he thought he was being set up. Rather prescient, considering he had been arrested by Carter moments after giving it to her.

She now threw the curled manila file on the black granite in between them. "Zane was in my office trying to give me this when you arrested him. Proof that someone has been hacking in to GD, stealing files, and investigating some of ... well, us. Not us," she clarified, making a motion between them, "but enough that they might know something. Anyway, it all seems to be there."

"Zane? Yeah, I figured he was being set up. It didn't seem like him, and I spent an hour with him trying to interrogate more out of him."

Jo snorted, but was able to keep from laughing too loudly. Compared to her own preferred tactics, Carter was a Care Bear.

"Well, I'm not going back to the station now," Carter said, looking upwards with an absent smile on his face that really told Jo more than she needed to.

"Do the paperwork tomorrow," Jo said as she turned to go up the stairs.

"Yeah. I was thinking more about letting Zane out, but he should be fine overnight, right?"

"Zane's still locked up?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Carter replied defensively.

"Never mind. I'll head back."

"Jo, you don't have to do that," Carter sighed. "It's late, and its my fault he's still in there."

"No, it's okay. I'd just be awake for a while anyway." Jo lifted her eyes meaningfully to the ceiling. "Remember what I said, Carter. I don't want to hear a single thing when I get back."

She turned her back on the blushing Sheriff and threw open the door. She was embarrassed about her earlier conversation with Zane, and more so at the thought of facing him again so soon, which in turn was making her angry. But angry was good. Angry was much better than hurt.

The woman at the center of his current mystery walked into the station. At first he wondered if he had finally lost it and was hallucinating now too, but at the hard click of her heels and firm line of her clenched jaw, he knew this was all Jo.

He expected her to start yelling, throwing things, anything, but instead she simply moved to the door and unlocked it. Stepping back, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away towards the door. If he needed any more proof that she was not okay, this was it.

"Jo, what's going on?"

She looked at him briefly, and sighed. "I gave the evidence you gave me to Sheriff Carter and he says you can go free."

"Yeah, I figured that much out, Jo. I meant with you. What's going on with you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

"Carter said you were having hallucinations. But I'm not convinced that's all that's wrong."

"Whatever, Zane. Not your problem. You're free now, so go on."

"God you're frustrating!" he said, sitting back down on the cell bench. "I'm just trying to help."

"I am no longer your concern!"

No longer? "Listen, maybe you're right," he tried calmly, "Maybe you got me and I'm just lying about being concerned. I'm not, but I can see you don't believe me." She kept her face turned, so he could not see her expression clearly, but he could almost see hurt. Jo? Hurting?

He went on. "But you know what is my concern? This." He held up his grandmother's ring, and when she turned at his movement, he watched her face carefully. She looked briefly pained, but like magic her face smoothed over again as any emotion she had she pushed below her surface. He could see her throat moving, as if she was swallowing it down.

"I don't have any answers."

"You do have answers, but they aren't for me, are they? Is that how it is? I thought you were starting to trust me, Lupo. What happened?"

"I do trust you, Zane," she muttered to the floor, "but it's not only my secret to tell."

"Carter already told me. You were having hallucinations. I get it. I walked in at a bad time. But that's not all, is it?"

"Right. Hallucinations. That's all of it Zane. Now will you let it go?"

"No. See, I know there's more than just that. First off, Carter said it was memory induced hallucinations. And the way you've been acting means you've been seeing a different Zane than any one you could have memory of. And this ring, Jo? The one you threw at me when you told me we were over? It belonged to my grandmother. Belongs to my grandmother. I called her up - and hers is still on her finger.

"I'm not dumb, Jo. I'm starting to put the pieces together, little by little. And it's adding up to look like either you're not the Jo I really know, or I'm not the Zane you really know."

He definitely had her attention now. Her eyes were wide, but more importantly she was silent. That was a bad sign, no matter which Jo was in front of him. He took the time to test out a theory. "Correct me if I'm wrong... but I don't think you're the only one who is experiencing this... disorientation problem."

Crap. Somehow he knew. Hold it together Lupo, she told herself. Okay, she had to breathe. And think. She ached to tell him, well, tell the old Zane. He could have helped, could have comforted her. This Zane had only laughed at her. Well, and helped a couple of times. And had brought her that magazine. Maybe... maybe he could be a little like her Zane after all.

But this still was not her secret alone. There were other people involved. Of course... Henry had told Grace. Instead of working for a way to solve the problem they had gone all lovey-dovey.

This Zane Donovan could help... or turn them all in to be quarantined. Was he more dangerous knowing only this little bit, or with the responsibility of the truth? Decision still not made up, she moved to her former desk, and leaned her hip against the edge. Arms still crossed over her chest, as if she could make the hurt there stop for a moment, she raised her head and looked at him.

"Okay, Zane. Here's the deal. I'll tell you, but I swear to God I won't hesitate to kill you if this gets out to anyone, got it?"

"Yes Ma'am," he snapped with a smile, saluting her. Her mouth twitched, but a sinking feeling in her stomach told her she might not enjoy the question and answer portion of this conversation.

He had just watched her physically argue with herself over his plea for an explanation. The whole time he was unsure of what her final decision was going to be, but when she agreed there was a huge weight lifting off his chest. He rubbed at his chest as he cautiously left the cell and pulled over Carter's chair. He twirled it around so the back of the chair faced Jo, and sat.

She looked worried. Tired. A thought occurred to him. "How's your chest? From the surgery?"

"Fine," she said, though touching it consciously.

When she did not elaborate, he decided to just plunge on ahead. "So... what's going on?"

"You're right in some ways - I'm not the Jo you used to know. And you're *definitely* not the Zane I used to know," she started. A little too emphatically. He briefly wondered what her Zane was like to make her 'definitely' so pointed, but then again maybe he already knew.

"So... doppelgangers? Multiple universes?"

"Time worm-hole," she said softly.

Zane snapped his fingers, grinning. "Of course. Alternate reality." When she did not respond to his grin, he realized he was absolutely right.

"That's some serious stuff, Jo. I thought I was the delinquent here. You can get in serious trouble for changing time lines."

"I know!" she exploded. "But we decided the best thing was to keep quiet! For us and for Eureka."

"Us? Who all is involved, Jo?"

"I... I don't want to bring them into this. If someone is going to get in trouble, might as well only be one of us, right?" She sighed.

Zane did not like the idea of Jo taking all of the blame, no matter how many times she had let him do just that before.

"Fine," he said, just to move things along. "So you and some unidentified number of others, who I can probably guess at anyway, are from a different time?"

"Not exactly. We were accidentally sent back in time. Maybe pulled back in time, I don't know, and when we made it back home, a lot had changed. Not everything, but little things. The statue in the main square, some of our jobs, that sort of thing."

"Okay, we'll come back to the science of that in a minute, but the ring, Jo?"

"You gave it to me," she said, and this time it was clear she was holding back tears. Jo never cried. This was wrong. Not his Jo, he kept reminding himself.

"We were... engaged?"

"We would have been, had I not hesitated when you asked. Then I was thrown back in time, and when I went to find you again..." she shrugged, but he could see the hurt.

Zane thought back. "I laughed at you. Jo... I'm sorry."

She shrugged again, but he could tell it still stung. What else had he done to hurt her since? "You weren't my Zane. I found that out quickly."

"The hallucinations?"

"Not my Zane either, but I guess an idealized version."

"A romanticized version?" he asked, repeating back to her the works she had flung at him earlier.

"Yeah, so there you go. Now you know."

"No, now I have more questions. Specifically, how?"

"I think I'm going to need reinforcements after all," Jo muttered.

Henry had managed to tell Grace, and Grace was another scientist. Maybe they would be better at explaining all of the science and physics behind the bridge device.

She brought Zane to their house, and was more than a little embarrassed when he showed up at the door in a striped nightshirt.

"Henry? We have a situation." Zane had been standing behind her and she shifted so Henry could see him. His eyebrows rose.

"Oh."

Soon they were all seated in Henry's living room, both Henry and Grace in matching monogrammed bathrobes. Zane was starting to ask Henry some real technical questions, and Jo went to help Grace in the kitchen make hot cocoa. It was not that she really wanted the drink (if she did it would be a bit stronger than cocoa) but she needed to get away from Zane and his eyes.

He was definitely watching her out of the corner of his eye - all on the way there, all while she was explaining to Henry what had happened. It was unnerving, and she needed a break.

"So, you and Zane?" Grace asked softly, motioning with her head towards the other room.

"Me and the old Zane. It's been... hard. Adjusting. You know, to life without him."

Grace reached over and put a hand around Jo's arm. "I know, Jo. I know."

Zane and Henry talked for a while before Grace kicked them out so the couple could go back to bed. Zane's hands were in his jean pockets, and Jo unconsciously hung back so she could watch him saunter ahead of her. Of course he looked back and caught her staring.

"Ah, sorry," she mumbled quickly, looking away.

Instead of laughing or mocking her like she was expecting, he just smiled and held out his arms. "No, it's okay. I can turn a little, if you want to get a good look from all sides. You know, see how I'm different."

She chuckled once, hanging her head and shaking it. "No, it's okay. Sorry. I..." she got to the driver's side door and unlocked it. She opened her door and so did Zane, but he leaned across the roof before she got in, stopping her.

"Can you tell me one thing?"

"I can try," she agreed cautiously.

"What was it? What was it that the other Zane did that got you? How was he so lucky, and I wasn't? I must have asked you out half a dozen times."

She had no answer for him, so she just shrugged and shook her head. She had loved his charm and his brilliance, his determination not to give up and how sometimes she did not feel as if she always had to be tough in front of him.

She missed that. She missed not always having to be tough. Jo could feel herself becoming more like the old Jo, the Jo from this universe. Without someone like him getting her to relax and let go, she was probably going to revert back to the old Jo. Maybe she needed to, to survive.

"Why do I feel so guilty?" Zane mused out loud.

"What?" Jo asked absently, concentrating on the dark road ahead of them as she drove him back to his car at GD.

"Guilty. I feel guilty for not being this great guy from your universe. All that stuff about knowing there was a better me inside, something more... the whole time you were really talking about someone else."

"Not really. I believe that deep down you're the same person, just... no one ever gave you the chance to be him."

"Right. And now I feel this obligation."

"Listen, I don't care. Be whoever you want to be. The other Zane is gone. The Bridge Device is broken, and there's no way to undo what we did. I need to just let it go."

What the hell, he thought. Might as well give trying the whole knight-in-shining-armor a shot. "I'll help." he announced.

"Say that again?" she asked pointedly.

"I am going to help. Help get you back."

"Why would you do that? You'd cease to exist if we went back and put things the way they were, if we even could."

"Maybe so. But then at least I'd get to have you. Well, the other me would get to. Seems like I went to an awful lot of trouble to get you to love me, Jo Lupo, and if I know myself, I'd be pissed if something as silly as a little time travel went and ruined that."

He could see her lips pressing tighter together, and it looked as if she was holding back tears. Again. For more times in one night than he could ever remember. He would help her, even if only to keep her from feeling hopeless.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, any of the characters, nor am I making money off of writing this.

A/N: I wasn't going to continue this, after the finale... but I figured I might as well work on it now & then. :) This takes place right after the finale.

"So you're telling me you can fix it?"

Sheriff Carter stood in front of Zane, arms crossed and a scowl etched onto his face. Zane looked up, distractedly. "The Bridge Device? Sure. I'm going to have to cannibalize the D.E.D., but no big loss there, right?"

"We only just got that back. Don't you guys need it?"

"Not anymore." Quick, steady strides took Joe Lupo down the steps into Zane's lab, data pad in hand. "Fargo just got off the phone with the General. After the incident with Beverly, he's ordering it decommissioned. We will need to have the parts and blueprints available in case we ever need to reactivate the program, but as of now it's scrap."

"Hey Lupo," Zane said with a fake leer, which was quickly replaced with an actual smile when he saw how she blushed.

She looked momentarily caught off-guard by his greeting, but she turned crisply to Carter. "Dr. Blake said you were late for the blood work you volunteered for."

"The blood work? ... Oh right. She asked if I would help out with something she's testing. I should have been listening better." Carter looked like he wanted to yell at Zane again, but instead he sighed, "Yup," and hopped up the stairs and out the door.

Zane looked up from his notes and focused in on Jo. "I'm not going to break it."

"Right, sorry. I just came in to give you the news." Jo looked away, and Zane immediately he felt bad. He kept forgetting this Jo was not the one he was used to, the one without feelings.

"No, it's ... I'm just a little tired. I've been working on it for a week straight. We're going to fix this, okay?" She gave him one of her sad, closed lip smiles and nodded.

After she left, Zane worked with only half of his attention focused on the machine in front of him. He just did not know how to act around Jo any more. There was this intense sadness she carried just below the surface, and he was afraid anything he did or said would slice a little too deep and dip into that. He wanted to comfort her, but that was the other Zane, not him. He was not sure exactly what he was supposed to do, so instead he had just avoided her since the night he found out what was going on.

He wanted to ask her out. He had reached that conclusion that morning, but he almost felt like he would be poaching someone else's woman. While he never had qualms about that before, he would be stealing his own woman, and that was a little weird for him.

So instead he let her walk out of the room in awkward silence.

For being a genius, sometimes he was an idiot.

Jo was striding by Grace's lab when the older woman called out a greeting.

"Hey Grace," Jo replied, stopping and turning. She had about four different places to be at that very moment, but truthfully she did not want to be anywhere near them. What she needed was a relaxing vacation.

Grace came out and linked her arm through Jo's stiff one, and set a much slower pace than Jo was used to. "How are things going?"

Jo started maneuvering them to the small atrium next to the cafeteria. It was too early for lunch, and everyone who came in for breakfast or coffee had already left. When there was only the two of them, Jo finally responded. "Now that we have permission to break down the D.E.D. device, Zane has a lot more parts to work with."

They sat down on a stone bench next to one of the tall hydroponically grown orange trees, Grace's hand still resting on Jo's arm. It felt almost comforting, and Jo resisted the impulse to brush her off.

Grace shook her head. "I didn't mean about the device, I meant with you and Zane."

"Oh." Jo looked down briefly, then back up, composed. "Fine. Really. He's working, I'm working. We're really not... talking much."

"It's a good thing we told him, Jo. Zane is tenacious when there's something he wants to know. He could have made it a lot worse if he had to dig to find out what he wanted to know."

Jo had recently been questioning the decision to tell Zane. She had wanted to tell him, but that had been based on emotional reasons. Her military training had taught her to reveal as little as possible when cornered, and now that she had gained some distance it was all she could think about.

"I can't help thinking that what I did was selfish, Grace. That I endangered all of us because I was letting my emotions get in the way."

"You can't think like that. What you did was to protect us. Zane was going to find out, and this way we were able to control it."

Jo sighed, wrestling inside with her decision. Upon reaching no sort of conclusion at all, she asked something else that had been on her mind. "Did we get along before, you and I? You know, the other Jo?"

Grace raised one shoulder in a half shrug. "You were very focused on your job. I think you approached with an eye towards achievement and carving out a place for yourself."

"A place for one," Jo whispered. Before it had been blown up, her home here had been nicely furnished, but devoid of pictures of friends. The other Jo had built the perfect life for one.

"Enough of that," Grace said, finally disentangling herself from Jo. As she stood, Jo looked over and saw Henry moving towards them.

"Hey Henry," Jo called.

"Hey Jo," he replied, then moved to kiss his wife. "Anything wrong?"

Jo shook her head. "No. Just... talking."

"Then you won't mind if I steal my wife, do you? I have a specific problem I need her help on."

"No, go right ahead."

Grace looked back at Jo with a sad smile. Alone again, Jo was momentarily swamped by self-pity. A clang from someone in the cafeteria brought her back a little, and she looked around her in frustration. Jo Lupo never pouted... and she hated the fact she was on the verge of it now.

The end of the day could not come soon enough for Zane. He wanted to track down Jo and talk to her. He had spent all morning convincing himself to ask her out again, and then all afternoon figuring out he would say it that would not end with her tasering him. There was a good chance she would taser him no matter what. This was, after all, still Jo Lupo.

He swing by Central Security, and was not surprised to find her absent. He was surprised that one of the guys on duty told him that she had left for the day.

"Tell me about it," the guard chuckled at Zane's obviously shocked expression. "The last time Chief Lupo left early was after the explosion in section 2 that broke her arm."

"She had a broken arm because of that?" Zane recalled the commotion; they had evacuated GD and been sent home for two days.

"Sure. But she still came in the next day. She's made of all balls."

Zane drove around town, going no where in particular, pondering the mystery that was the similar but different Jo. Where in the other universe that the split began? He could still see that tough Jo, the one who fought through the pain and had enough courage - and balls - to stand up to anyone. Where along the timeline had she started to grow into a human being?

While sitting at a stop sign, the intriguing focus of Zane's musings jogged in front of his car in sweatpants and a frown. She did not notice him at first, nor when he opened his car door and started yelling at her. It was only after the cars behind Zane's started honking with impatience did she look back and see what, or rather who, had caused the commotion.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, the characters, or their cannon.

A/N: I have been desperately avoiding addressing the Zoe issue in this fic, but I thought it was about time. I tried to make it a realistic, albeit angsty, way to handle it. There's a little less Jo/Zane interaction in this one, but no worries, it's still all about them. :) Appearances made by Zoe, Carter, &the rest of the Fab 5.

XXXXX

Jo had been trying to burn off all of her depression and frustration, and had been doing it the least violent way she knew - jogging. She had made a loop around the perimeter of the town and was now jogging back through the middle to her car. Maybe she would go back to Carter's for a bit before going to GD's gym and doing some strength training.

She had been crossing at a designated crosswalk when one of the drivers started yelling at her. Jo managed to ignore him until she caught her name. Looking back, she saw it was Zane.

Because of her run, she did not have the energy to work herself up into a really irritated mood. Instead she felt soft tug of longing in her chest, and she was too worn out from her long run to try to fight it. She really did not want to see Zane right now, but he was causing a scene in the middle of town, and she doubted he was going to stop on his own.

"Should you be jogging so soon after surgery?" he called out.

Jo blinked. Surgery? Oh, the bullet. "It's been weeks, Zane. And Dr. Blake gave me a clean bill of health. Remember?" But she was still flattered he cared, even though she wished she did not.

"I know. Hey... uh... you want to get coffee?"

"What, right now? Is this something that can wait until work tomorrow?" She felt gross and sad, and the last thing she needed was to be out in public like that with the person causing half of those feelings.

But the gentleman in the car behind Zane's, who had long since given up honking his horn, had an opinion of his own. "Just say yes already so he'll move his damn car!"

Zane threw a dirty look over his shoulder, and Jo sighed in defeat. She pointed up ahead to a parking spot, and moved out of the crosswalk so the cars, which had lined up mostly patiently behind Zane, could continue on. She reached the same time he did, and stood outside his rolled down window, arms crossed over her chest. Yeah she felt defensive. At least she acknowledged that.

"Is it something about the project going on at GD?" she asked cautiously.

His brows furrowed for a second. "No, not exactly. I... I just want to talk."

Her own eyebrows rose. "Talk? About things that can be said in public, or things that have to be said behind sound-proof walls?"

"Come on Jo-Jo, just a casual date-like hour or two. No work, no secret stuff. Just us and a couple of coffees."

She frowned in confusion. "Zane... a date? What about Zoe?" Jo had been trying to avoid thinking about him and Zoe, but at this point it was impossible. Zoe meant so much to her, not only as one of her few female friends, but almost like a sister. She wanted to hate Zoe for being with Zane, but she could not. So she had been trying to stay out of her way.

"Zoe? What about her?" he asked, looking confused.

"She's one of my best friends, Zane. And you're dating her."

His jaw dropped a little. "I... I didn't know. That she was your friend, I mean. Sure, we've gone a few dates, but that's it."

Jo sighed. "Zane, she's really in to you. And... I won't be the one to hurt her like this. It's already hard enough as it is keeping everything from her."

"But Jo... what about what we had?"

"What WE had? I don't think so, Donovan. It's what I had with someone else." She had to believe that. She had to believe that there really was another Zane - her Zane - waiting for her. Otherwise she might give up all hope.

XXXXX

He could not believe she just threw that back at him. He could tell she was about to walk away, and at this point he was embarrassed and frustrated with her. He had asked her out - again, and once again been turned down. And she had rubbed it in her face that he was not her Zane. Not as good, not as... perfect. Once again he felt the strange feeling of being jealous of himself.

"Fine," he finally snapped. "Enjoy having coffee with someone else."

Before he could be hurt any more, he put the car in reverse and pulled out. He left her there, staring at him, expression shuttered, arms crossed over her chest. If she wanted to hold on to her perfect Zane, let her.

Yeah, he was a little upset. He had gone out of his way, put himself on the line, probably even made himself look like a fool, and for what? So she could make him feel like a loser. He did not need that. He could make himself feel like a loser all on his own, and suddenly one of the two people in the town he thought actually might respect him obviously favored the better version of him.

And the other was barely 18. Zoe. He sighed as he thought about the tangle he was in. He enjoyed irritating Carter, and he appreciated the attention and exuberance Zoe always showed him. And while going on a few casual dates with Zoe had been fun, he had not expected her to take it as far as Jo seemed to think she had. Had he been giving Zoe the wrong impression about their relationship? While she was in town for the summer, they had flirted and gone to dinner. But Zoe was still a kid and had a lot of growing up to do before ... well, before he could consider her as anything more serious.

As he pulled to a stop outside of his house, he realized that somehow he was going to have to have a conversation with Zoe. One where he asked just how serious he thought they were.

XXXXX

Instead of heading home to Carter's place or to the GD gym, Jo went to see how her new house was doing. The first team had quit after the incident where half of them were turned to stone, so now she had a new team on the job. Ever since she had learned that it was Zane who Zoe had been all aflutter over, Jo had been on Fargo's case to hurry the house along. There was nothing worse than Zane coming to the house for a date... with someone else.

A separate shed had been set up next to the foundation and framework of the house to house all of her furniture. GD had an orientation department which assisted in the relocation and orientation of new employees, and Jo had enlisted the aid of the woman in charge to take care of the furnishing of her house. As long as there was a secure gun room and a dojo in the back, anything would be fine. The movers were on standby, and as soon as her new foreman, Clark, gave the word, her house would be ready in hours.

She spoke with Clark, and he seemed optimistic about finishing the house by the end of the week. Jo was surprised it would be done so soon, but there were also a lot more people working on it this time.

While she was walking the perimeter, she got a call from Carter.

"Lupo," she answered.

"Hey Jo. Is... everything okay?"

"Yeah, why? What's wrong?" What disaster had struck now? She looked around her, senses on alert for danger.

"Nothing, nothing, Allison just said she saw you and Zane arguing in town. And then when you didn't come home..."

Jo sighed, letting her body relax after confirming there was no danger or eavesdroppers nearby. "No, I'm fine. I came over to see how the building was coming along for my new house. It should be done by the end of the week."

"Really? That soon? But I mean, how are things with you and Zane? I know it's hard for you. Grace gave me a call. She was worried about you."

"I'll be fine."

"Okay, well, if you ever want to talk about it..."

"What are you going to say, Carter? Are you going to tell me it'll be alright? We don't know for sure. We have no idea if we can get the bridge device to work again, if when we go back we'll be able to change anything, or get back to the old timeline. What if it - and him - are gone forever?"

"Listen, Jo, I don't know if we will ever able to get back to our original time line. This may be all we have now. And... I hate to see you so sad. If there was any way you and Zane could have here what you did then -"

"I don't know, Carter," she cut him off. "I'm going to be out for a bit before I come home. I need to clear my head, to think."

"Sure Jo. Whatever you need."

What Joe needed was a change. Maybe moving would be the first step in starting over. New job, new home, maybe even new hobbies. Anything to take her mind off of her breaking heart.

Jo hoped it was enough. Something needed to change soon or else she was not going to be able to stay in Eureka much longer.

XXXXX

Carter hung up the phone and was about to call Allison back when he heard one of the worst sounds in the world. It was the sound of almost certain disaster and drama. His daughter's voice.

"Dad, what's going on?"

He turned slowly to see Zoe standing with her hands on her hips at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi Honey. How was your day at school? I didn't realize you were already home."

"Well, I have been for a while. Did you really mean all that stuff you just said on the phone?"

"It's... it's not what you think, Honey."

"Don't lie to me. I could tell something was wrong when you came and visited me. Are you... from a different time line? Where is my real dad?"

Carter rushed over to her. She began to look worried and a little scared, and she shied away from him. "Honey, I am your real dad I guess, well, it's a little complicated. And I couldn't tell anyone."

"So explain it to me. And you did tell people. You told Jo."

"It's not that easy. And Jo... already knew."

"You mentioned Zane on the phone... him too? Who all is involved with this? And why isn't it easy?"

"Because we could get in real trouble if people ever found out what happened."

Zoe crossed her arms over her chest and looked affronted. "I can't believe you won't tell me. Don't you trust me?"

She looked ready to storm out, so Carter quickly grabbed her and hugged her. "Of course I trust you Zoe."

"Then explain it to me."

Carter had to break up the shouting match between Fargo and Zoe barely minutes after they had arrived at the head of GD's office. He was mad that she had found out and that they had to tell her, and he obviously did not trust her. Zoe was stamping her foot and demanding to be treated like an adult. It was Henry who finally managed to not only explain what had happened to Zoe, but also impress upon her the importance of the situation.

"If it's known that we violated the time travel protocols, Zoe, they would imprison us. They would imprison us, run tests on us, interrogate us for information, and would likely never let us go."

Carter watched his daughter slowly glance around at all of the faces in the room. He had brought her up to Fargo's office in GD, where Fargo had set up a masking system to keep others from listening in. Henry had met them there, as had Grace and Allison. Grant was gone, globetrotting somewhere, and Jo had declined to attend.

"It's not like every time I get into an argument with my dad I'm going to threaten to tell or anything," Zoe grouched.

"We know, Zoe, but it might be harder for you not to mention it. Accidents and slips do happen, and your father probably thought telling you as little as possible would make it easier on you," Allison tried soothingly

"Not as if Zane could find out twice," Fargo snorted quietly too himself, but Zoe honed in on the mention of that name immediately.

"Zane knows? Really?" she brightened up. Then she turned thoughtful. "But you all hate Zane! Why would you tell him, and not me?" She looked insulted.

"It was one of those little slips I mentioned," Allison started.

"Who? Who slipped up?"

Allison glanced at Carter. In fact, they all glanced at Carter. Zoe, of course noticed, and turned to face him as well. "You, Dad? YOU told Zane?"

"No, I didn't tell Zane! Remember a week ago when some of us were having hallucinations?" She nodded carefully, having only heard a little bit about it.

"Well, Jo hallucinated that she saw Zane. And there was one - or two - instances when she spoke to the real Zane as if he were the fake one. And she accidentally said a few things that made him confront her about it."

"I don't understand... why was she seeing Zane? Didn't you say you and Allison each saw your exes?"

Grace decided to save him from this part of the already uncomfortable conversation. "In the timeline that they come from, Zoe, some things are different. For example, Henry and I," she glanced fondly at her husband, "we barely knew each other."

"But Jo and Zane..." she continued, looking back over at Zoe, "they had been dating for two years, since he arrived in Eureka. They were just about to get engaged. In fact he proposed the day everything changed."

Zoe's mouth dropped, and the rest of her quickly followed onto one of Fargo's white couches. "But.. Jo and Zane hate each other!"

"Maybe they did in this timeline, but it was a different Jo. This Jo loved... and probably still loves, Zane."

"Oh my god she must hate me!" Zoe gasped.

Carter rushed to deny it. "Of course not. She doesn't blame you at all. But it is... hard on her."

"That's why she's been avoiding me since I started seeing him," she said softly. "I thought it was just because she disapproved. But has she... she hasn't tried to stop me from seeing him, has she?"

Carter shook his head, and exchanged a look with Grace. They knew Jo was hurting a lot on the inside, but she was having trouble letting anyone else see. If somehow things could be better with Zoe, they might be able to keep her from leaving.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Eureka or any of the characters. They are all owned by SyFy.

A/N: I wrote part of this at the same time as chapter 3, but I wanted to make sure I had resolved the "Zoe issue" before posting. I also set you up for the next crazy theory I have about the whole alt time line thing. Thanks so much for all of the feedback and comments. I love getting them!

XXXXX

Jo was still not home when Zoe got back to the house. Jo's odd behavior made a lot more sense now. At first Zoe had assumed Jo was upset with her over something, maybe because she disapproved of Zane. But now they she knew that Jo was in love with Zane, it made it more clear, and more complicated, all at once.

Zoe wished she could call Pillar and pour out what happened to her, but she had to keep the secret. She would have talked to Jo, but that was out of the question. But Zane... Zane knew. He would be able to commiserate!

She tried to ping Zane on skype but he was not online, so she sent him a text. When he finally called her back after what seemed like forever, he sounded distant on the phone. Zoe did not want to let him know that she had been told, but he still agreed to come over so they could talk.

Of course, the first words out of her mouth when he showed up were "They told me! I know too!" It had taken only a few seconds on confusion before he suggested they go for a walk up in the woods around the entrance to S.A.R.A.H.

Zoe bubbled on for about ten minutes with her reactions to hearing the news, the reactions of everyone else to her reactions, and finally ending with a short rant about Fargo. When she was done venting, and feel better for it, she turned to see Zane walking next to her with a small smile on his face.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Just you seemed like you really needed to talk about that."

"I did!" she said, marveling at how well he seemed to know her. "I wish I could have talked to Jo about it, but I feel weird, you know, about the whole you and me dating thing. I know she'd never try to break us up, but I just feel bad for you, you know?"

Zoe looped her arm through Zane's. "I mean, this is our time line, right?"

Zane turned, stopping Zoe. It was getting dark and the sun was setting, but there was still enough light for her to see his expression. He looked a little sad.

"Zoe... what are you doing with me?"

"What do you mean? Right now? Talking?"

"I mean, what do you want from me in the fall, when you go back to school?"

She had not been expecting this kind of conversation right now. "What do you mean? I thought we could talk every day like we did in the spring. We could visit each other when we could. I don't understand why you;re bringing this up now though."

"Zoe," he sighed, "when we started talking it was fun and casual. You came home and we hung out, casually. I really did not mean to give you any impression otherwise, and I am truly sorry if I did. But... I think in the long run we would never last as anything more than casual."

"Are... you trying to break up with me?" Zoe asked aghast. "Is this because of Jo? You're breaking up with me because someone said you're supposed to be in love with Jo? That's ridiculous!"

"This has to do with you and me, Zoe, not Jo, outside of the fact that she was the one who told me that you might have become more attached to me than I thought."

Zoe could not believe this was happening now. "How could you not have known?"

"Apparently I am not as observant in some areas as I am in others," he muttered.

"How can I be sure you're not being bullied or manipulated into this?" she demanded.

"Zoe! What we had was a casual fling! And someone who loves you like a sister is out there hurting and in pain because of us. If you ask me, that's more important than this," he motioned to the space separating the two of them, which had become larger.

"Maybe I am just a little freaked out by knowing that my entire existence as I know it only started a few months ago, despite all of the memories I have. And the way I'm reacting to it all is with flippancy." She did tend to overly react emotionally to things.

"My advice, Zoe, is to find Jo and talk to her about it. I'm sure she's having a hard time as well keeping everything from you."

Zane seemed a little frustrated, and Zoe wondered if she had said something to annoy him, or if she had done something wrong. She wondered if Jo had said or done something. In the end all Zoe knew was that she was miserable, two people she really liked and cared about, Jo and Zane, hated her, and there was no one she could talk to.

XXXXX

It was after midnight when Jo finally came home. She had spent the last several hours in the GD gym lifting weights, kickboxing, and finally swimming in the lap pool. She had never used the GD gym in the old time line, and she knew that if she ever went back, she would miss it.

She tried to be as quiet as possible when she got back to the house so as to not wake Zoe or Jack. She did not have to worry. Zoe sat on the sofa, flipping aimlessly through channels. Under normal circumstances Jo wished she could have been there to tell Zoe about the time traveling, but with everything that had been going on between her and Zane, she thought her being there would have made it worse. Not to mention she was not in any mood to be sociable.

Jo debated whether or not to head up straight to her room, but Zoe turned around. "Jo? Do... do you have a minute?"

Zoe seemed unsure, and Jo's first instinct was to comfort her. She sat on the sofa facing Zoe. "Of course. Is everything... okay?"

Zoe nodded, and Jo could see that her face was a little red. There was a pile of tissues on the floor next to a hastily hidden tissue box, and Jo was immediately concerned.

"I... I just wanted to make sure you didn't hate me," the younger woman said in a tiny voice.

Jo immediately reached out and hugged Zoe. "Of course I don't hate you! How could you think such a thing?"

"Well they told me all about what you went through, on Founders Day, and all about Zane. If I had known, Jo, I would never have even thought about it! You never said anything and I thought you didn't like him."

Zoe would have babbled on but Jo did not think she could take that. "I could never hate you, you hear me? And what right did I have over who you dated? I have no claim over anyone here."

"But I never would have hurt you, Jo. You know that."

Jo hugged the other woman, and could tell she was crying again. This was the last thing she had wanted. "I am so sorry I had to keep everything from you," she started.

Zoe shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He doesn't want to see me anyway. And I... I'm sad, but I agree."

Jo sat back, startled. "But I thought you really liked him, Zoe!"

"I do... but I guess it was just a summer fling. At least he thought so. And I don't want to be with someone who thinks of me as only a fling. And knowing how much you love him and that you were going to let me take him from you..."

"Zoe, I loved a different Zane Donovan, not this one."

"That's not true. We're the same people, Jo. You love me just as much as you did before because I'm the same person. You love him as much, even if he can't remember loving you back."

Was she right? Was the old Zane, and all of his memories of her, gone forever? Or was the Zane here and now the exact same Zane? If so... would there be any way to give him his memories back? Grace and Henry had developed a way to share memories - maybe they would be able to answer some of her questions. But for now it was nice to have one of her best friends to talk to again.

They were both tired, so they decided to call it a night and talk in the morning. Tomorrow was Friday, and Jo decided that she needed a day off from work. She was not exactly sure how one requested time off, but she sent Fargo an Email before bed and told him she was not going to be in. Jo had a few ideas of how to spend her day off, and none of them involved heaving over to GD.

XXXXX

Zane spent all morning not thinking about Jo. He did not think about her at all as he tweaked her bridge device to help send her home, or when he sent her the paperwork to run a test diagnostic for the rebuilt aircraft project. He did not think about her as he worked with one eye on the door, or when he walked past Central Security on his way to lunch.

Grace must have noticed how hard he was not thinking about Jo because she sat next to him at lunch, startling him. He had not even noticed her approaching.

Grace put her hand over Zane's. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked, confused.

"I'm not exactly sure what you said to Zoe yesterday, but thank you. She was a little... shook up, after she heard the news. Zoe told her father that she spoke with you last night, and you encouraged her to talk things out with Jo."

Zane shrugged. Last night he had been pretty harsh on the kid, and he felt a little bad. He had been a little harsh with Jo, too. "So they're good, now?"

Grace smiled happily. "Jo took the day off, and I think they were going shopping this morning."

"I had no idea Jo liked shopping," Zane chuckled. "She doesn't seem like the type."

"Apparently there were some 'girl things' Zoe thought she should have." Grace patted his hand one last time before heading back to her lab.

Girl things? Instead of thinking dedicatedly about anything other than Jo, now all he could concentrate on was remembering the lingerie he had bought her - on Sheriff Carter's credit card - when he had first arrived. He wondered if the old Jo had worn any of it. He often suspected she had. He wondered if the new Jo had worn any in her own timeline. He almost positive that one had.

He felt like a teenage boy imagining his teacher in only a bra. This was Jo Lupo, the person who was the iron fist of control and rules. He would like to bend some of her rules over a desk someday and...

He shook himself out of his daydreams. What was he thinking? Naughty thoughts about Jo? In his mind this Jo had already replaced the last one, and he liked this one much much more. He would never be the old Zane to her, but maybe he could be a new one? Would she ever consider restarting what she had before? It was obvious that for a while Jo had been trying to project the Zane she knew on to him, but he was not an idiot. She was too much in love with that other Zane for him to ever compare.

The conflict of interest was not lost on him. Zane was the one building her a way back to her old guy. Which in itself might be one of the coolest things he'd ever done in his career. If only he could write a paper on it. As it was, his reward might be to forget he ever did it.

It was then in a moment of clarity he had an idea.

XXXXX

Jo sat on a sofa and watched Zoe finger through decorative pillows. The younger woman not only had all the exuberance of youth, but also attention span for home decor. They were in their third "home" store, and Jo was worn out. Zoe, however, kept gush about Jo's new home.

Madeline, the woman Jo had asked to furnish her home, had apparently forgotten purchase items "decorate" it with. Or so Zoe insisted. Jo was really here so she could spend time with Zoe, and if that mean suffering through hours of shopping, so be it.

"Okay, so your bedroom walls are a soft camel brown, and you have soft recessed mooooood lighting. Do you think the red or the gold is sexier?" Zoe was holding up two pillows and looking expectantly at her.

"Sexier? Zoe, I don't think that sort of thing is going to matter for a while."

"Oh, so you prefer the living room?" Zoe asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Jo rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean Zoe."

"No, I don't," Zoe said quieter, coming closer and sitting next to her. "You've found the love of your life and you're not doing anything about it. Weren't you the one who told me to act before it's too late?"

"This isn't the same Zane-" she started, but Zoe cut her off.

"Yes, it is. I'm the same as the other Zoe, this Henry is the same as the other Henry. This Zane is your Zane, I just do not understand why you persist in thinking that they are separate."

"Hey! What's this about boys? I thought we were going to have a girls day out shopping, huh?" Jo said quickly, trying to change the subject before her eyes started watering. Maybe she was allergic to down. Or the smell. There were little potpourri things everywhere.

"Jo, come on."

Zoe's gaze was so insightful and compassionate, Jo did not doubt she would make an excellent doctor. At the moment, it was a little discomforting to have that sort of attention fixed on her. "He... he loved me, Zoe. He really loved me." Damn potpourri. Now her eyes really were watering.

Zoe leaned over and gave her another hug. "He will again, Jo. He won't be able to stop himself."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Eureka, and that includes its characters.

A/N: I really had a hard time trying to continue this. I'm sorry it took so long! Enjoy!

XXXXX

Jo thought this day would never come. After months of being homeless, her house was finally ready. She had the movers install all the furniture and "trim" that she and Zoe had bought. Jo certainly made enough money in this timeline to afford it.

In the end, sleeping in her new place was tough. She had spent the last year practically living with Zane, and then with the Carters. Since she had cleared the air with Zoe, Jo had been reluctant to move out. But it was time.

She had gone grocery shopping for her new kitchen in a daze, and when she had gotten home regretted not paying more attention. Out of habit she had picked up two of Zane's favorites - feta-stuffed olives and rocky road ice cream. Maybe she could serve the former at the house warming party Zoe was throwing for her.

Work had been quiet. She felt like she was waiting for the next big crisis to hit the town. Her phone rang just as she finished putting her groceries away, and on instinct guessed the town was in danger.

"Lupo."

"Jo? Are you still here? There's something in my lab I need your help with."

"Grace. No, I'm not at GD. But I can be there in..." she checked her watch, "...about six minutes."

"Oh no," the older woman said into the phone, "I don't want you to come back here if you've already left."

"No, it's better this way. Even if it doesn't seem like a problem now, it will be better to have it resolved before it becomes one."

"Well alright then. See you soon."

Lupo shook her head and walked out to her car. She was glad for the distraction. Her mind needed something to focus on, or she might go fuzzy again like she did in the grocery store. Had someone been tailing her, she might never have noticed. That was unsafe.

XXXXX

Zane felt like bouncing around like a child. He had spent the last 48 hours working on a strange theory, and he really wanted to see what someone else thought of it. Specifically Jo.

Grace was still tinkering with the mechanical schematics they had come up with on one of her multiple monitors, and seemed calm. She had just gotten off the phone with Jo, who would be arriving any minute. He tapped his pen on the desk. He put his feet up next to his computer, then took them down when he realized his socks did not match. Laundry day today. Zane even thought about making notecards to help him remember everything. Luckily Jo walked in before he found any cards to write on.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked briskly, her data pad in hand. Probably searching for any related information to what Grace had been working on. "Trouble with the memory feedback thingies?"

Zane stifled a smile at her attempt at tech-speak. Instead, he cleared his throat. "Actually, we've made something of a breakthrough, but we're not sure what it means."

"Zane has made a breakthrough, he means. I just let him use my lab," Grace called out, her head still double-checking.

"Okay, why am I here then?" Her tone was wary, and she folded her arms across her chest in a classic defensive posture. One he knew very well, when she was getting ready to hear - and then disbelieve - whatever alibi he was about to spin for her.

"Have you ever watched Star Trek?" he asked her.

Her reply was a single raised eyebrow.

"Hear me out, Jo. There's an episode when the ship is traveling in a different type of time stream - a time loop. I can't remember if they were reliving the same day over and over, or if it was a different episode-"

Now he got both eyebrows. "You're telling me you've been having a Groundhog Day moment?"

He shook his head. "Not me personally, but one of the first clues in the show that time was wonky was that the plants had aged differently. Their internal ship censors had a specific age down to the second of every person, and it was off. They were all older than they were supposed to be - because they had been going through this time loop over and over again. Or something like that."

"Uh huh. Zane, that is science fiction. It's not real - it's just one of your TV shows."

Zane exchanged a glance with Grace who was trying very hard not to laugh. "Who do you think takes science fiction and makes it reality, JoJo? We do. Where do we get some of the greatest ideas from? From science fiction writers of the past.

"But the point is, I wondered if this held true for you and me. Well, you five and the rest of us. If I'm right, you should be intrinsically older, at the cellular level, than you should be."

"How can you measure that?"

"Remember a last year when GD was looking in to the genetic tagging? Well, we finally implemented it a few months back. It has an exact copy of what your cell date stamp was, and we know what it should be right now."

"From what I recall the decision to implement it was tabled, and it wasn't likely to go through."

Zane shrugged. "I don't know the politics you and Fargo pulled to get it done, but working together you did. And for the record, I was very opposed to the idea."

"Okay, so if my cells are older than they're supposed to be... what does that mean?"

"Well, we'd actually know more if they weren't," Grace chimed in. "If your cells are exactly the age they're supposed to be, it means this human body never skipped through time, but your mind did."

"But I had a body when we went back to 1947. It wasn't just my mind that went there."

"We know," Zane replied. "But when Jack came back the second time, from saving Allison, his old self and new self merged. His clothes even changed to represent the one who was returning from time travel to the present. It looks like the arriving version of you takes precedence, or the one with more memories."

"And the ring..." Jo mused softly. "Why didn't the two of him merge when he went back into 1947 for the second time?"

Zane blinked for a few moments. That was not something he had considered. On one hand he was impressed with Lupo for asking it, and on the other he wanted to fire back a witty retort to wipe the smug look off her face.

Luckily Grace had an answer. "We're not sure, but we think it has to do with the fact that they never physically overlapped, and maybe something to do with the receiver."

"It may also be that it you cannot overlap like that when going back in the past, but you can in the future. We're not really sure." He flashed Jo one of his best smiles. "But good thinking, JoJo."

It may have been his imagination, but he thought he saw her blush. She probably realized she was blushing too, and so she tried to cover up her embarrassment with a question to Grace.

"So... you want to know if the body itself was altered? I don't understand why."

Zane decided to answer this one. "Because if the body itself was never replaced, then memories from other timelines might still be locked away in the pathways."

"Meaning I could retrieve memories from the old Jo?"

"When you all got here, your bodies merged with the other versions of yourself. The different versions melded into one. But what happened to the other versions of us?" He pointed to Grace and himself.

"Our theory is that all of the timelines that have existed and no longer do are still trapped up here in our pathways," he continued, tapping his temple. "And if they are, I think we may have a way to access them."

"So what do you need from me?"

Zane motioned with flourish to the DNA mapper behind him they had "borrowed" from Central Security. "Step right up."

"You're sure this thing works now?" Jo asked suspiciously.

"Of course. You forced me onto it yourself not too long ago."

"Probably made keeping track of you a lot easier," she muttered, but not soft enough that is escaped his hearing. He smiled a little and waited until she was on the platform before beginning the scan.

XXXXX

"I really think this is something we need to tell everyone else about," Jo said, stepping off of the platform. The machine still gave her the creeps. Despite that, when she got back to her office she was going to figure out how to integrate the tracking into her next security rounds.

Zane looked up from the control panel and winked at her. It did funny things inside her rib cage, and she resented it. And yet... he was going to an awful lot of trouble for her. Jo wondered if Zoe may have been right, that eventually this Zane would come to care for her as her Zane had. Or maybe he already did. She had to wonder if she was rejecting purely out of spite and resentment of the fact that he did not remember her.

"Exactly the same," Zane declared, smiling up at her. "Your DNA is a perfect match, down to the cellular date stamp."

"So where do we go from here?"

"No where." Jo, Zane and Grace turned to find Henry in the doorway.

"Henry?" Even his wife was surprised to see him there.

"You can't continue with this project," Henry repeated, serious and stoic.

"And why not?" A little bit of the old rebellious Zane peeked through, but Joe did not mind because he voiced the question they all wanted to know.

"It's too dangerous. Who knows how many times the time travel protocols have been violated. Who knows how many timelines are out there. If you try to access the memories stored in your neural pathways, you might uncover any of those memories. We have no way to target the right ones."

He looked over at his wife with an apologetic expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Grace. I took a look at your schematics last night after you went to bed. Brilliant, really, but dangerous."

From the look on Grace's face, Jo thought she was going to have to step into the middle of a domestic squabble just to protect GD employees and equipment. "We will discuss this at home!" she hissed at Henry, and turned on her heel and stormed out, lab coat flapping as she exited.

"Henry's probably right," Jo sighed. "Who knows what kind of traumatic experiences might be recalled. For all we know there have been hundreds of time lines."

"I would have done it."

Jo looked at Zane, perplexed. "What do you mean? Used the device?"

He nodded. "I would have done it. For you." He shrugged, putting his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Tight jeans. He rocked a little back and forth on his heels, avoiding her eyes at first, then finally meeting them. "You know, so you could have your Zane back."

She was speechless. He would be willing to risk everything, including his job and sanity, just to return her Zane to her?

"Give me a chance, JoJo. I'll use this device, or work twice as hard on the machine. But would you give me a chance? This Zane?"

"I gave you two years of chances," she whispered, although what she really wanted to say was yes.

"One more." Zane moved close to her, grabbing ahold of her hands where they hung stiffly at her sides. "One more chance, JoJo."

XXXXX


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Eureka or the characters.

A/N: More Jo/Zane stuff, less plot.

XXXXX

Jo and Zoe stood in front of the long mirror in Jo's hallway. Jo twisted her fingers together nervously before she forcibly stilled them. Her hair was down, and she was wearing her fourth outfit of the night.

"I love it," Zoe exclaimed again.

"I never wear dresses, Zoe. And only to church." She looked down at the slinky black dress and tried to recall the number of times she wore a dress on a date with Zane. There had ben a few... but the dress had always made her feel more awkward, and less like herself.

Jo shook her head. "No, I'm going back to the jeans and sweater. It's my housewarming party, and I want to be comfortable."

"Don't you want to look cute for Zane?"

"Of course. But I don't want to look like I'm trying to hard either." Jo pulled her hair back and looked at the dress again, imagining what it would look like with her standard slicked-back ponytail.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. You can wear jeans and a sweater as long as I get to do hair, makeup and accessories."

It had been a little awkward at first when Zoe had said she wanted to help Jo get ready for the housewarming party. But somehow the younger woman had wrangled the details of Zane's ardent plea when they had been in the lab, and now saw it as her personal mission for the evening to help Jo impress Zane.

Jo sighed. "What am I doing, Zoe? Is this even going to work a second time? Zane and I are so different. It was a miracle it even worked before."

Zoe shooed her back into her bedroom where her new closet had erupted clothing all over her room. She put on the first outfit she had chosen - dark jeans and a red cashmere sweater, and sat down in front of the small vanity next to Zoe.

"You are going to look great, show off your house, enjoy yourself with your friends, and be relaxed and friendly with Zane. I don't really know how you used to be with Zane, but do whatever that was. Joke around or whatever. Be relaxed and natural."

Jo chuckled. It usually started out with Zane teasing her, and Jo giving it right back. Since she had been here, though, she had tried to act more aloof, stopping herself from laughing at his immature jokes and pranks. And she had tried to keep the flirting to a minimum. "Relaxed. Natural. Friendly. Got it."

Meanwhile Zoe set about vamping up Jo's makeup. Jo thought there was too much eyeliner, but Zoe waved her off. "It's like playing dress up with a giant barbie doll. Or getting ready for prom with an older sister... not that I would know."

Jo smiled. "Me either. But I guess I do now. Thanks, Zoe. I mean it."

"I'm going to miss you again when I go back to school, Jo," she confessed.

"I'm going to miss you too. But we'll keep in touch better, I promise," Jo smiled. No matter which timeline, she finished in her head.

XXXXX

Zane rang the doorbell, more nervous now than before any other date he had been on. Yesterday in the lab, Jo had been silent for long after he had asked her for a chance. Begged her for one. She had waited so long to reply that he had been sure her answer was going to be no. But the laws of probability had been kind to him.

In his mind he kept seeing her sad smile, her jerky head nod. Jo had looked sad and hopeful all at once, and he was worried he was going to screw this up. For her, for them both.

So he had brought a gift to her housewarming party, and roses. There were only two roses, and he had brought them because it sort of felt like this was a first date. His mother had told him to always bring a girl flowers if he wanted a second one. Then he had swallowed his pride and called Carter for gift advice. The Sheriff had recommended a particular brand of gun-cleaner, and reminded him Jo had been borrowing his. It was not very romantic, but then again, neither was Jo. Or so he guessed.

The sight of her opening the door took his breath away. Her hair was down and her clothes looked molded to her body. And when she saw him, she smiled. That alone was enough to almost knock him over. "Wow," he said.

"Thanks," she replied, almost shy. Then a noise from inside prompted her to start a little, and she opened the door wider. "I mean, Thanks for coming." She moved back and Zane entered.

It looked like a standard GD home, although a bit higher in pay grade than the average. When she closed the door behind him and turned around, he offered out his gifts to her. "For you... for warming your house."

She looked at the roses in such a funny way, he asked what was wrong.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "It's just..."

"Allergic?" he asked pessimistically.

"No. Nothing. They're perfect." She smiled again, although he had a feeling it disturbed her. He had probably given her roses all the time, in the other time line. He could see Zoe, Grace and Henry in the living room, talking and standing near a table covered with food. No one seemed to be paying them any attention.

Holding the small bouquet between two fingers, Jo loosened the lid on the box holding the gun cleaner. When she saw it, her entire face lit up in delight and shock.

"I heard you needed some, so..."

"Zane! It's perfect! I've been using Carter's, and let me tell you it's subpar. Where did you find it? It usually takes me over a month to get my orders in!"

Zane smiled smugly. "I have a friend who owed me a favor. He was able to overnight it to me."

"Come on, I'll give you a tour of the gun room while I put it away."

"Gun room?" he asked teasingly. Sounded dangerous. of course, he liked a little thrill in his life.

"I've always wanted a dedicated armory," she explained, "so I had them build one into the house. That and my dojo are the two things I've always wanted but never had before."

"Wow."

"Yeah," she said, clearly proud. She led him into the kitchen where drinks were set up, but went passed stairs. She waved him over to a corner next to the fridge. She had floor to ceiling built in cabinets, only one of the ones on the end did not open like normal. The handle was only screwed in at the top, and when rotated revealed a thumb pad. Jo pressed her thumb to it, and in a second the entire section of wall seemed to separate, move back, and then slide sideways into the wall. Blue lights flickered on, and Zane saw stairs leading down.

"You have a secret lair? God you're so cool."

Jo looked back, as if seeing if he was being sarcastic, but in truth Zane thought it was awesome. Jo was really turning out to be his own personal fantasy superhero, and now he was getting to see her underground layer.

At the bottom of the stairs, he had to do a full 360 degree rotation before he could comment. "I have got to get me one of these!"

Ever wall held guns of various sizes and shapes, although the collection looked a little sparse from what he remembered seeing at the station when she used to store it there. Perhaps she had lost some of them when her house had blown up. "Without the guns, of course," he added.

"You could store your comic book character figurines," she teased, opening up a cupboard and placing her gift inside reverently.

He frowned. "How did you-"

She looked back, arching one eyebrow. It was not an innocent gaze she gave him. It was a look that said that she knew all of his secrets and was not afraid to exploit them. He suddenly felt trapped in a very small cage with a very large animal. Once again adrenaline raced through his body.

Zane cleared his throat. "Shouldn't you be looking after the rest of your guests?" This was a side of Jo he had never seen before and it was a little overwhelming. He was unsure how long he would be able to resist reaching out and kissing that smug look off of her face.

Jo sauntered over, eyes locked with his, and came so close he could feel the heat between them making the hairs on his neck stand up. He felt like a stalked prey, but right when he thought their lips were going to brush, she turned her head slightly away, leaving his lips cool and wanting. She kept moving past him, and up the stairs.

"I guess you're right," she taunted lightly. "Wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting."

She turned and continued up the stairs. He knew his expression was shocked, but as he watched her tight ass ascend, it slowly turned into a smile. This was going to be fun.

XXXXX

Zoe was delighted how well her plan was working. Jo seemed to feel confident and sexy in her clothes, and Zane had not been able to tear his gaze away from her all night. There could have been a little bit of lingering bitterness over the entire Zane situation; part of her felt like she had 'found' him first, but it was so obvious now how they felt about each other. So instead she reveled in being an amazing social planner and matchmaker.

More than once her father had caught her staring at Jo and Zane, but she had tried to give him what she hoped was a reassuring look. It made sense now why he had been super annoyed about the whole Zane thing. Of course, she thought, it meant that the next guy she dated was going to look a whole lot better in his eyes.

Feeling the need to check up on Jo, Zoe offered picked up a few discarded plates and headed into the kitchen. Vincent was there as well, gushing over the appliances.

"There isn't any juicer, though," he noted.

Jo shrugged. "I go to Cafe Diem for that sort of thing anyway. That and smoothies."

"And almost everything else!" Zoe chimed in. "I came over early to help set up, and there was hardly anything to serve."

"I did just move in," Jo pointed out. "If you had come over yesterday morning it would have been completely bare."

"But still, Jo. You went shopping. Thank goodness you were able to cater on such short notice, Vincent. All she had was peanut butter, steak and olives."

"She's exaggerating," Jo hurried replied, laughing. "I have eggs, too."

"What's wrong with olives?" Zane strolled through the kitchen doorway and Zoe moved out of the way so he was forced to stand closer to Jo.

"Nothing, as long as you like them with feta," Zoe chuckled.

"I do! One of my favorite foods," Zane chimed in.

"I'm not surprised, with your cultured palate," Vincent chuckled. "But I'm surprised you bought them at all, Jo. I thought you didn't even like olives."

"Not in general, but these have grown on me," she tried to explain. Zoe caught the tail end of a swift but heated look Jo sent Zane as well as the thoughtful expression on Zane's face, and did a little internal dance. Jo had probably started eating them because Zane liked them so much. It was super cute.

If she could not set Jo and Zane up before she left for college, she was going to be very surprised. Maybe she could go into business doing this whole matchmaker thing. She was pretty good at it.

XXXXX


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry this took so long to finish. There was NaNoWriMo, the holidays, and more. But here is the final chapter of Jo's Secret. I hope it's been worth the wait.

Disclaimer: I make no money off of this. I do not own Eureka or the characters.

XXXXX

It was Monday morning and Jo sat in her office, mind wandering. Ever since her house warming party she felt a little lighter. There was a bounce in her step. She had begun to feel as she had when she had first started seeing Zane. And yet...

"Hey Lupo."

The object of her daydreams stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame arms crossed and hesitant.

"Zane," Jo cleared her throat, sitting up a little. She allowed a small smile of welcoming lift up the corner of her mouth, before she reasserted her professional demeanor. "Can I help you with anything?" she asked, even though she hoped he was here on a social visit.

"I don't know. You've seemed surprisingly distant after your party. Considering, you know..." he trailed off, but he did move closer into the room, standing behind one of her chairs.

Jo sighed. "Zane. It's just so much to take in right now and-"

"I thought we were going to work together on this, JoJo," he cut in. "Why did you take me off the project?"

"Wait, what? What do you mean take you off the project? Which?"

"You know which one, Jo. The one Grace and I had been working on. What happened? Decided to give it to someone else?" She heard the hurt in his voice, and she blinked, trying to clear her mind. Assess the problem, deal with the emotions later, she reminded herself.

"Zane, I did no such thing. What makes you think I had?"

"All of my data is gone. Not erased... but removed. The hardware itself. I checked the security access codes, Jo. They were yours."

Jo stood, taking a deep breath. "Zane, my codes may have been used, but it wasn't by me. Which means..."

"It was someone else," Zane finished for her, looking down and frowning. "But why?"

"Because it was too dangerous."

Jo and Zane looked up at the same time to see Henry in the doorway. "Henry?" Jo asked in question.

"Lets go somewhere we can talk."

XXXXX

An hour later they stood in Jo's old office, the current sheriff's office. Carter and Andy were responding to a few down traffic lights, so they had the room to themselves. Zane leaned against Carter's desk, but Jo was having trouble relaxing. Too many things over the years had happened in this room and the only way she could stay focused was to push it all away until later.

"Okay Henry, explain why you violated GD protocol and used my security access codes." She folded her arms over her chest.

"It's too dangerous. What you were doing - or planning on doing - would have had very bad repercussions beyond what we could even hypothesize."

"You mean reintegrating memories from the other timeline?" Zane interjected.

"Not just one other timeline," Henry continued, "but all the other timelines."

Jo raised her hand as high as her face in a mock request for the floor. "Going back in time and altering the timeline is very restricted and controlled, Henry. And I thought theoretical."

"The only reason why you'd be so concerned is if you've been the one to go back before." Zane looked pointedly at Henry. "Is that it? And is that the reason why you couldn't tell us in GD?"

Henry nodded, his face dropping. "Yes. I'm not proud of it. I was going through a very dark time. I know there are at least half a dozen different timelines by now, and there's no telling how many more. The more we tamper with it, experiment with it, not only will it attract more attention, but also run the risk of unbalancing time as we know it. There are just too many things that could go wrong. I'm not just talking about remembering the timelines, but also trying to change or fix or alter them."

Jo slumped back against the desk that used to be hers, and would never be again. "So it sounds like we're pulling the plug on the whole thing," she acknowledged softly.

Henry nodded. "I've spoken with a few others, and we're planning on a formal meeting to confirm it."

The implication that she'd lost her Zane truly and forever hit her in the chest. She put one hand up over her mouth and turned away, willing herself to hold it in until she was alone.

"Jo-" Henry made a move towards her, but Jo put up a hand to keep him back. She turned her body half away, as if protecting herself from an invisible onslaught.

Henry instead turned to Zane who had shuttered his expression. "Zane, Grace and I have been able to share memories through these neural memory devices. They're not completely tested out yet, but I'm sure her project could use a few more beta testers. If it's something Jo might be interested in... it's the least we could do. Take them, and think about it."

Jo listened to Henry leave, unwilling to turn around to see him go. She had been so hopeful in the beginning, when they had first started working on the project. There had to be a way to get back to the original timeline to her original Zane. There were so many possibilities, so many different things to try. And the scientists in Eureka were the smartest in the world. If they were not able to do it, who could?

Her hope had been holding her back from this Zane too, she knew. From embracing the new closeness she was feeling with him.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Zane's. Jo was not ready to turn around yet, but her put her free hand overtop of his. Her other remained over her mouth as she folded a little in half, tears finally sliding silently down her cheeks to her fingers.

XXXXX

It was some time later when Jo had managed to compose herself again. Henry must have told Carter not to come back because it was growing dark and neither he nor Andy had returned. Zane had remained, patiently, watching her as she silently worked through her grief of finally giving up.

Jo wiped her eyes with the last tissue from Carter's desk and threw it away. She excused herself to the small bathroom where she threw water on her face. Jo went through the motions of pulling her hair up again, smoothing it out. Recomposing her face as she was going to have to her life. She took a deep breath and went out to talk to Zane.

Zane was sitting in a chair facing away from her. Jo came over and stood next to him, a little nervous but more relaxed than she had before. "Sorry about that," she offered. "I guess I just needed to get it out."

He shrugged, obviously trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation. But the usual snark and sarcasm was gone from his face. Instead, she saw something akin tenderness. It made her ache a little. "I understand. I'd want someone to miss me that much someday too."

Normally Jo would try to respond, either to deny or push him away, but instead she was worn out. Tired on the inside. She pulled up a chair and sat down, facing him. "I had a good time at my housewarming party," she started, putting up a head so he would not interrupt before she was able to finish. "I really good time. Partly because you were there. But I may have teased you more than I really should have. Maybe just to test myself and see how I would feel."

"So I was an experiment?" he asked, though his eyes were more curious than hurt.

"Maybe. But I enjoyed it, more than I wanted to. And yeah, I wasn't really ready for that."

Zane held up one of the devices Henry had given him. "When do you think you might be ready for these?"

She looked at him and he was everything she wanted but did not have. Could this be the answer she had wanted all along?

"How does it work?" She asked softly, taking it from his hand, curious. She missed his surprised look, but caught the eagerness n his voice as he rattled off some technical babble. "No, I mean how do I operate it? As in do I get to chose the memories, or do you see whatever I'm thinking?"

He smiled at her, raising an eyebrow. "Afraid I can't handle you, Lupo?" But he continued on again, gently. "From what I know, when memories are triggered, they are then played back in the mind of both people who wear them."

"So it's random. And it can go either way, right? I'll get all of the awful ones of us that you have."

"Hey, come on! We had some good memories this time around a well. Quite a few in this room, too. Tell you what, JoJo. I'll show you one of mine if you show me one of yours." He wiggled his eyebrows again and Jo felt some of the fear in her chest loosen up a bit with her small laughter.

"I certainly do have a number from around here," she conceded, looking around everywhere except for him. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Zane took her hands in his. "Probably not. But I like to live on the edge. Come on, Lupo. Do you trust me?"

She considered. With her old Zane, definitely. And this one? She thought she was beginning to, and told him so. He put one of the devices in her hand, and Jo fit it on her neck, just under her ear.

"So how do I make this work again?" Before the words had barely left her lips she was picturing the first time they had met. Only this time it was from Zane's point of view. She saw her own face and the way he seemed to look at her ass whenever she was in the room. But it was like a memory, and she could still see Zane sitting in front of her with a concentrating look on his face.

Jo rolled her yes at him, and he held out his arms. "What? You were hot! Still are, too."

She could feel the excitement Zane had felt at seeing her receive the lingerie boxes, the pleasure at getting any sort of reaction out of her. Unbidden her own memories of that day came back to her, and she watched at the Zane sitting in front of her got to feel how annoyed and flattered she had felt at receiving them. "You never told me you liked them!" he exclaimed.

"I never told any version of you that I liked them," she added with a smile, but too easily her teasing mood was caught off guard by the next memory she had. Of Zane again in the jail cell, holding a lingerie box. Only this time inside of it was a ring.

"Maybe I'm not ready for this-" Jo was about to take off the device and stop the memory when Zane reached out and touched her arm.

"Wait. It'd like to see." Jo let the memory continue, jumping ahead from Zane's exit to her own return when they had come back. To find Zane in the jail again, confused and sarcastic.

Jo stood and started pacing, unable to sit still. She could feel Zane's confusion from his own memory of that day, the humor and ridicule he'd used to cover up his surprise. He had thought she was trying to play a prank on him, make him the butt of the joke.

She finally did remove the device, and wondered if it had done more harm than good. "So... what now?"

"I think we could have started off with some lighter, sure, but why not keep going? You have years of memories I'm looking forward to reliving."

"Why?" Jo turned to him, confused and on the verge of leaving. "Why would you want to?"

He shrugged, but just by looking at his face she knew he had already answered that to himself. "Because I want to know. I want to know what I, what we, once had. Because even if I can't remember, I have a pretty good feeling that the other me would have wanted to. That the other version of me wouldn't have stopped until he found a way to be with you again."

He had stepped up so close she could have closed her eyes and felt the heat from his body. "What if you don't like what you see?" she whispered.

Zane looked into her eyes and Jo shivered at how much want she saw reflected in his. "I don't see how I wouldn't."

Zane had loved her once. Maybe he would again. Jo gave him a tentative smile. "I warned you," she whispered, her smile growing as his did.

"Ooo, dangerous talk from-"

Jo shut him up with the kiss.

XXXXX


End file.
